The 2022 World Cup was the first World Cup held in December. With the players taking a mid-season break from club level, the fitness level shown was quite remarkable compared with the past World Cups. In this list, the first rating that stands out is the 9.27 rating by Rodri, who played the whole tournament at CB, a position further back than usual. Despite this, his average rating was the highest recorded in this tournament. It is also necessary to highlight Pepe’s performances at 39 years of age.
| Player | Rating | Defense | Minutes Played | Country |
| Rodri | 9.27 | Back 4 | 390 | Spain |
| Aymeric Laporte | 8.93 | Back 4 | 300 | Spain |
| Harry Maguire | 8.33 | Back 4 | 429 | England |
| Thiago Silva | 8.30 | Back 4 | 390 | Brazil |
| Marquinhos | 8.22 | Back 4 | 390 | Brazil |
| John Stones | 8.18 | Back 4 | 434 | England |
| Jurriën Timber | 8.18 | Back 5 | 390 | Netherlands |
| Ben Davies | 8.17 | Back 5 | 180 | Wales |
| Andreas Christensen | 8.16 | Back 5 | 180 | Denmark |
| César Montes | 7.89 | Back 4 | 180 | Mexico |
| Pepe | 7.84 | Back 4 | 360 | Portugal |
| Jean-Charles Castelletto | 7.79 | Back 4 | 180 | Cameroon |
| Jan Vertonghen | 7.74 | Back 4 | 180 | Belgium |
| Nicolás Otamendi | 7.73 | Back 4 | 570 | Argentina |
| Toby Alderweireld | 7.73 | Back 4 | 180 | Belgium |
| Joško Gvardiol | 7.70 | Back 4 | 690 | Croatia |
| Maya Yoshida | 7.64 | Back 4 | 180 | Japan |
| José Giménez | 7.53 | Back 4 | 180 | Uruguay |
| Tim Ream | 7.51 | Back 4 | 360 | United States |
| Yassine Meriah | 7.47 | Back 5 | 270 | Tunisia |
| Félix Torres Caicedo | 7.36 | Back 4 | 180 | Ecuador |
| Nico Elvedi | 7.36 | Back 4 | 180 | Switzerland |
| Dejan Lovren | 7.34 | Back 4 | 600 | Croatia |
| Ibrahima Konaté | 7.32 | Back 4 | 286 | France |
| Joachim Andersen | 7.32 | Back 5 | 180 | Denmark |
| Antonio Rüdiger | 7.11 | Back 4 | 270 | Germany |
| Nathan Aké | 7.09 | Back 5 | 479 | Netherlands |
| Walker Zimmerman | 7.06 | Back 4 | 270 | United States |
| Virgil van Dijk | 7.04 | Back 5 | 480 | Netherlands |
| Ko Itakura | 7.00 | Back 4 | 180 | Japan |
Conditions for the presented data:
– Minimum minutes played in the competition: 180 minutes (equivalent to 2 full games) per type of defense played (Back 4 or Back 5);
Data from FBref.